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This viewpoint takes up the Covid-19 pandemic as a trigger for a research agenda around societally engaged international business (IB) research.

The paper is organized as a viewpoint. First, it provides an overview of Covid-19 research in business and management and IB in particular. Second, it introduces a societally engaged IB perspective, around poverty and human rights as well as trade.

The paper offers an annotated introduction to the paper contributions of the special issue with three clusters, “re-reading the crisis”, “crisis protectionism” and “firm strategies during the pandemic”.

The paper points to future research opportunities in terms of crisis management and societally engaged IB research.

The Covid-19 crisis poses new questions for research on international business and its related disciplines. In particular, the political, economic and societal disruption which the pandemic has caused highlights the importance of addressing broader societal issues such as climate change, poverty and inequality through a purposeful and forward-looking research agenda.

The paper and the special issue are some of the first combined research outputs on the Covid-19 pandemic in international business.

This paper aims to highlight the disparity between the huge global influence and reach of transnational corporations, on the one hand, and the lack of international legal infrastructure for regulating TNC activity, on the other. Existing avenues for holding TNCs accountable for breaches of international standards are woefully inadequate. After rejecting the idea of subjecting TNCs to potential criminal liability, the paper then proposes a set of principles for international TNC responsibility modelled on the 2001 Draft Articles on State Responsibility. The potential future role of regional human rights courts and the International Labour Organisation in holding TNCs accountable is also explored.

A survey of existing legal texts and secondary scholarship was undertaken to determine the existing coverage of the regulatory infrastructure for holding TNCs to account, and to identify gaps in that coverage.

Significant governance gaps in the existing institutional infrastructure were identified, creating a permissive environment within which blameworthy acts by TNCs may occur without adequate sanctioning or reparation. Potential regulatory and institutional avenues for filling these gaps were identified.

The author lacks hands‐on experience of the political barriers which may exist and may make the proposed reforms unrealistic. Those in the field are encouraged to consider whether the proposed reforms are feasible/desirable.

The paper contains implications for the future of international law, the regional human rights courts and the International Labour Organisation.

The paper contains original proposals for the future evolution of international law in its application to TNCs.

The chapter aims to clarify the relationship between corporate governance structure and corporate subscription to Global Compact standards. Part one of the chapter looks at the relationship between different models of board governance and active Global Compact participation by publicly listed companies. Part two of the chapter examines a number of external mechanisms aimed at bringing corporate behavior in line with Global Compact principles, and argues that there is a mutually reinforcing relationship between internal governance structures and external provisions aimed at influencing corporate behavior.

Part one of the chapter uses an independent T-test to compare the average (mean) proportion of publicly listed companies from unitary board countries with an active Global Compact Communication on Progress status with the average proportion of publicly listed companies from two-tier/hybrid corporate governance systems listed as active Global Compact participants. Part two of the chapter uses primary and secondary sources to examine external mechanisms operating across national borders aimed at influencing corporate behavior.

The chapter finds that a higher proportion of public companies from countries with two-tier/hybrid corporate governance structures have become active Global Compact participants compared to public companies from legal systems with unitary board corporate governance structures. Part two of the chapter examines the potentially mutually reinforcing relationship between internal governance structures and external mechanisms for modifying corporate behavior.

While external codes and standards such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises appear to be influencing corporate behavior worldwide, quantitative data confirming and recording the extent and nature of this influence (if any) remains limited.

The chapter provides useful insights for policy makers and corporate leaders into the relationship between internal corporate governance structures and external codes, standards and guidelines aimed at influencing corporate behavior.

This chapter provides original insights into whether and how internal governance structures can complement and reinforce social standards regarding global corporate citizenship, and the legal guidelines reflecting those standards.

Efforts to create an international system for corporate responsibility should now be concentrated not on the drafting of yet more rules and standards, but on the strengthening of existing international institutions. This chapter first outlines the problems with using rules that are generally not enforceable within national courts to make global corporations accountable. It is argued that at least some of these obstacles could be overcome by strengthening already existing international institutions. Four such institutions are examined – the existing regional human rights bodies, the International Criminal Court, the International Labor Organization (ILO), and an expanded International Court of Justice.

This paper aims to examine the potential for “triangular cooperation” between investment partners from Australia, China and host African nations to contribute to the economic development in Africa.

The paper discusses a number of complementarities between Australian and Chinese investors in mining, agriculture, energy, research and education and finance – sectors vital to Africa’s future development. These complementarities are examined in light of recent development studies on the benefits of triangular cooperation and recent literature examining links between foreign direct investment (FDI) policy and economic development.

The paper concludes that there is much to be gained by making the most of the existing and potential synergies between Australian, Chinese and local investors in African settings.

The implications of this paper are, first, that African nations should keep the benefits of triangular cooperation in mind when designing FDI policies and, second, that Australian and Chinese investors should be more willing to explore potential investment partner synergies when investing in Africa. The paper also suggests an agenda for future research into how good design of FDI policies might best promote healthy economic development in African nations.

Australian and Chinese companies should be more willing to explore potential avenues for cooperation when investing in Africa, while African governments should be more mindful of how rules and policies can maximise the local benefits of FDI.

African governments should be more mindful of the quality, rather than the quantity of FDI when drafting relevant laws and policies.

The value of the paper is in applying the concept of “triangular cooperation” to direct investment. The paper also provides an original focus on Australia-China investment synergies in African settings.